Schutzstaffel, or guard detachment - so in Nazi Germany in 1923-1945. SS soldiers, paramilitaries of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) were called. The main task of the combat unit at the initial stage of formation is the personal protection of the leader, Adolf Hitler.
SS soldiers: the beginning of the story
It all started in March 1923, when A. Hitler's personal security guard and driver, a watchmaker by profession Emil Maurice, together with a stationery dealer, and part-time politician of Nazi Germany Josef Berchtold created a headquarters guard in Munich. The main purpose of the newly formed military formation was to protect the Fuhrer of the NSDAP Adolf Hitler from possible threats and provocations from other parties and other political formations.
From humble beginnings as a defense unit for the leadership of the NSDAP, the combat unit grew into the Waffen-SS, an armed defense squadron. The officers and soldiers of the Waffen-SS were a huge fighting unit. The total number was more than 950 thousandpeople, a total of 38 combat units were formed.
Beer Putsch by A. Hitler and E. Ludendorff
"Bürgerbräukeller" - a beer hall in Munich at Rosenheimerstrasse, 15. The area of the premises of the drinking establishment allowed up to 1830 people. Since the days of the Weimar Republic, due to its capacity, the Bürgerbräukeller has become the most popular venue for various events, including those of a political nature.
So, on the night of November 8-9, 1923, an uprising took place in the hall of the drinking establishment, the purpose of which was to overthrow the current government of Germany. Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, a comrade-in-arms of A. Hitler on political convictions, was the first to speak, outlining the common goals and objectives of this gathering. The main organizer and ideological inspirer of the event was Adolf Hitler, the leader of the NSDAP - the young Nazi party. In his accusatory speech, he called for the ruthless destruction of all enemies of his National Socialist Party.
To ensure the safety of the Beer Putsch - this is how this political event went down in history - the SS soldiers, led at that time by the treasurer and close friend of the Fuhrer J. Berchtold, undertook. However, the German authorities reacted in time to this gathering of Nazis and took all measures to eliminate them. Adolf Hitler was convicted and imprisoned, and the NSDAP party was banned in Germany. Naturally, the need for the protective functions of the newly-made paramilitary guards also disappeared. The SS soldiers (the photo is presented in the article), as a combat formation of the "Strike Force", were disbanded.
The Restless Fuhrer
After being released from prison in April 1925, Adolf Hitler orders his fellow party member and bodyguard J. Shrek to form a personal guard. Preference was given to former fighters of the "Shock Squad". Having gathered eight people, Y. Shrek creates a defense team. By the end of 1925, the total strength of the combat formation was about a thousand people. From now on, they were given the name "SS soldiers of the National Socialist German Workers' Party."
Not everyone could join the organization of the SS NSDAP. Strict conditions were imposed on candidates for this “honorary” position:
- ages 25 to 35;
- living in the area for at least 5 years;
- the presence of two guarantors from among party members;
- good he alth;
- discipline;
- sanity.
In addition to becoming a member of the party and, accordingly, a soldier of the SS, the candidate had to confirm his belonging to the highest Aryan race. These were the official rules of the SS (Schutzstaffel).
Education and training
SS soldiers had to undergo appropriate combat training, which was carried out in several stages and lasted for three months. The main objectives of intensive recruit training were:
- excellent physical fitness;
- knowledge of small arms and impeccable possession of them;
- political indoctrination.
The training in martial arts was so intense thatonly one out of three people could complete the entire distance. After the basic training course, recruits were sent to specialized schools, where they received additional education corresponding to the chosen branch of the military.
Further training in military wisdom in the army was based not only on the specialization of the military branch, but also on mutual trust and respect between candidates for officers or soldiers. This is how the Wehrmacht soldiers differed from the SS soldiers, where strict discipline and a rigid policy of separation into officers and privates were at the forefront.
New chief of the combat unit
The newly created own troops, which were distinguished by impeccable devotion and loy alty to their Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler attached special importance. The main dream of the leader of fascist Germany was the creation of an elite formation capable of fulfilling any tasks that the National Socialist Party set for them. It needed a leader who could handle the task. So, in January 1929, on the recommendation of A. Hitler, Heinrich Luitpold Himmler, one of A. Hitler's faithful assistants in the Third Reich, became Reichsfuehrer SS. The personal personnel number of the new SS chief is 168.
The new boss began his work as the head of an elite division by tightening the personnel policy. Having developed new requirements for personnel, G. Himmler cleared the ranks of the combat formation by half. The Reichsfuehrer SS personally spent hours studying photographs of members and candidates for the SS, findingflaws in their "racial purity". However, soon the number of SS soldiers and officers increased markedly, increasing almost 10 times. The SS chief achieved such success in two years.
Thanks to this, the prestige of the SS troops has increased significantly. It is G. Himmler who is credited with the authorship of the famous gesture, familiar to everyone from films about the Great Patriotic War - “Heil Hitler”, with a right straightened arm raised at an angle of 45º. In addition, thanks to the Reichsführer, the uniform of the Wehrmacht soldiers (including the SS) was modernized, which lasted until the fall of Nazi Germany in May 1945.
Fuhrer Order
The authority of the Schutzstaffel (SS) has grown significantly thanks to the personal order of the Fuhrer. The published order stated that no one had the right to give orders to soldiers and officers of the SS, except for their immediate superiors. In addition, it was recommended that all units of the SA, the assault detachments known as the “brownshirts”, assist in every possible way in the staffing of the SS army, supplying the latter with their best soldiers.
SS Uniform
From now on, the uniform of the SS soldier was noticeably different from the clothes of the assault squads (SA), the security services (SD) and other combined arms units of the Third Reich. A distinctive feature of the SS military uniform was:
- black jacket and black pants;
- white shirt;
- black cap and black tie.
In addition, on the left sleeve of the jacket and / or shirt, there was now a digital abbreviation indicatingbelonging to one or another standard of the SS troops. With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939, the uniform of the SS soldiers began to change. Strict implementation of G. Himmler's order on a single black and white color of the uniform, which distinguished the soldiers of A. Hitler's personal army from the combined arms color of other Nazi formations, was somewhat relaxed.
The party factory for sewing military uniforms, due to the huge workload, was not able to provide uniforms for all SS units. The servicemen were asked to change the signs of belonging to the Schutzstaffel from the combined arms uniform of the Wehrmacht.
Military ranks of the SS troops
As in any military unit, the SS army had its own hierarchy in military ranks. Below is a comparative table of the equivalent of the military ranks of the military personnel of the Soviet army, the Wehrmacht and the SS troops.
| Red Army | Ground forces of the Third Reich | SS Troops |
| Red Army | Private, shooter | Mann SS |
| Corporal | Ober Grenadier | SS Rottenführer |
| Junior sergeant | NCO | SS-Unterscharführer |
| Sergeant | Unter Feldwebel | SS Scharführer |
| Senior Sergeant | Sergeant major | SS Oberscharführer |
| Sergeant Major | Ober Feldwebel | SS-Hauptscharführer |
| Second Lieutenant | - | - |
| Lieutenant | Lieutenant | SS-Untersturmführer |
| Senior Lieutenant | Ober Lieutenant | SS Obersturmführer |
| Captain | Rotmeister/Hauptmann | SS-Hauptsturmführer |
| Major | Major | SS-Sturmbannführer |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Oberst Lieutenant | SS Obersturmbannführer |
| Colonel | Oberst | SS Standartenführer |
| Major General | Major General | SS-Brigadeführer |
| Lieutenant General | Lieutenant General | SS Gruppenfuehrer |
| Colonel General | General of troops | SS-Oberstgruppenfuehrer |
| Army General | Field Marshal General | SS-Oberstgruppenfuehrer |
The highest military rank in the elite army of Adolf Hitler was the Reichsführer SS, which until May 23, 1945belonged to Heinrich Himmler, which corresponded to the Marshal of the Soviet Union in the Red Army.
Awards and insignia in the SS
Soldiers and officers of the elite unit of the SS troops could be awarded orders, medals and other insignia, just like the military personnel of other military formations of the army of Nazi Germany. There were only a small number of distinctive awards that were developed specifically for the "favorites" of the Fuhrer. These included medals for 4- and 8-year service in the elite unit of Adolf Hitler, as well as a special cross with a swastika, which was awarded to the SS for 12 and 25 years of devoted service to their Fuhrer.
Faithful sons of their Fuhrer
Memory of an SS soldier: “The principles driving us were duty, loy alty and honor. Defense of the Fatherland and a sense of camaraderie are the main qualities that we have cultivated in ourselves. We were forced to kill everyone who was in front of the muzzle of our weapons. A feeling of pity should not stop a soldier of great Germany either before a woman begging for mercy, or before children's eyes. We were inspired by the motto: "To accept death and bear death." Death should become commonplace. Each soldier understood that by sacrificing himself, he thereby helped great Germany in the fight against a common enemy, communism. We saw ourselves as warriors for the future of the world, Hitler's elite.”
These words belong to one of the soldiers of the former Third Reich, an ordinary infantry unit of the SS Gustav Franke, who miraculously survived the Battle of Stalingrad and was captured byRussian. Were these words of remorse or the simple youthful bravado of a twenty-year-old Nazi? Today it is difficult to judge this.
Trial of collaborators of Nazi Germany
At the Nuremberg trials, officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the SS were convicted as members of a criminal organization, so the veterans of the mentioned military formations were deprived of many of the rights enjoyed by their other compatriots who went through the fighting.
However, German SS soldiers, whose age at the end of World War II did not exceed 18 years, were exempted from conviction and fully acquitted due to the minority of the conscript.
It is worth noting that today the Waffen-SS soldier training system has been adopted by the modern army of some European countries and the United States of America.
